


The Humanity Spirit

by EnInkahootz



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Disney, Elsa is only sort of in the fic, F/M, Frozen 2 (2019) Spoilers, Gen, Magic, Movie: Frozen 2 (2019), Nature, Pre-Frozen (2013), Pre-Frozen 2 (2019), very light romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnInkahootz/pseuds/EnInkahootz
Summary: "You know Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, but look, there's a fifth Spirit, said to be a bridge between us and the magic of Nature."-Honeymaren,Frozen IILong ago the four Spirits of Nature, namely Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, met to discuss the idea of sharing magic with humans via the creation of a fifth Spirit.
Relationships: Bruni (Disney)/Nokk (Disney: Frozen), Gale (Disney: Frozen)/Earth Giants (Disney: Frozen)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	The Humanity Spirit

It was the Fire Spirit who called the meeting. With symbols crafted out of lines of flame he sent each of the other three Spirits of Nature an invitation. They met in a realm that the humans could not access, a realm the humans would not even be able to comprehend. It was a boundless space, but it fit into a minuscule bubble of existence. It was every color and every temperature. The walls were hard and soft, the floor was solid and pliant. There was sky and sea and soil, there was a burning sun and a cool moon, but there was also nothing. The four Spirits could see and hear each other, but they were also invisible and silent.

“Why have you called us here?” demanded the Earth Spirit, his voice echoing like the sound of countless deep voices booming all at once.

“Yes, why?” asked the Water Spirit, her voice gurgling and rhythmic.

The Air Spirit simply waited as she twirled curiously around the impossible space.

“I think we should share our magic with the humans,” the Fire Spirit announced.

True silence followed. The Fire Spirit looked at the others. The Earth Spirit appeared as a mass of angry rock formations. The Water Spirit had pulled her waves into the shape of a horse with a guarded expression, but the Fire Spirit knew the Water Spirit well, and could see in her eyes that she was intrigued by the idea. The Air Spirit was whooshing excitedly, or perhaps furiously; the Fire Spirit couldn’t tell which.

But it was the Air Spirit who finally broke the long silence.

“What exactly makes you want to share our magic with the humans?” the Air Spirit asked, her voice distant and near at once like the sound of motion.

The Fire Spirit considered this. He withdrew his flames into his lizard form, because it was easier to think clearly that way. When he was raw fire, logic was farther from his grasp.

“The humans are weak, and finite,” he began, “it makes them have to try in a way we do not, a way we cannot, because we are for always, because we simply are what we are and always will be. But the humans, they are so small and confused that they must give up or struggle and,” he morphed back to flame for a moment, feeling the passion of his sentiment, “though their time is brief, they do not give up. They struggle and try. They try so very hard. Is not that beautiful? Is not that worthy?”

The Water Spirit opened her mouth as though she was going to speak, then closed it again.

“So, I think they deserve our help in their struggle,” the Fire Spirit continued, “I think they will use our power for good.”

“Good? Worthy? Beautiful?” the Earth Spirit bellowed, “how can you call those creatures by such names? Do you not see the foolish, careless, cruel things they do? They abuse the gifts we have already given them, and they abuse each other. Why give them more to abuse?”

“I have seen many of them doing good,” the Air Spirit interjected, “even those among them who do bad will at other times do good. They are more complicated than you care to admit,” she said to the Earth Spirit.

“They are not complicated,” the Earth Spirit yelled, “they are simple and foolish, and I do not care about them one bit.”

“Yes, you do,” the Air Spirit replied gently, and the Earth Spirit glared at her with his many stone faces.

“We all care about them,” the Water Spirit spoke in her flowing, lyrical voice, “without us they would not be. We have begotten them, and we wish to see them grow well.”

“Exactly,” the Fire Spirit said, smiling at the Water Spirit with his lizard mouth. She didn’t exactly smile back, but her horse face was gentle as she met his gaze.

“How do you think we might go about sharing our magic with them?” the Air Spirit asked, “were we to simply give it to them, would not the power be more than their mortal forms could survive?”

“I should think so,” the Fire Spirit agreed regretfully, “it could kill them all.”

“I fear so as well,” the Air Spirit agreed with concern.

“That is because they are not meant to have magic,” the Earth Spirit grumbled.

“Could we somehow weaken it for them?” the Air Spirit asked, not acknowledging the Earth Spirit’s negativity.

“How might we weaken it?” the Fire Spirit wondered aloud.

The Fire Spirit and the Air Spirit looked to the Water Spirit, because she often had the best ideas.

“I suppose what we need is something like a bridge,” the Water Spirit suggested, “some kind of bridge between us, the four Spirits of Nature, and the humans. A bridge which alters the strength of the power along the way from us to them.”

“A bridge?” the Fire Spirit inquired, eager to hear more.

“Yes,” the Water Spirit replied thoughtfully, “though the bridge would have to be closed off by walls and a ceiling, to contain the power,” she said, and the Fire Spirit could see her working it out in her keen mind. “Perhaps what we need is something more like a tunnel,” the Water Spirit continued, “a tunnel that leads between the realm of our energies and the realm of theirs, and at the end of the tunnel there would be a sieve of some kind through which the power of our magic would be filtered, and only the amount of magic that is safe for humans to engage with would be able to pass through the tunnel’s exit.”

The four Spirits spent a few moments considering this. The Fire Spirit looked at the Water Spirit and he could tell she had quickly developed the idea further but was giving the others a chance to make suggestions first.

“Perhaps the Earth Spirit could build a set of enclosed stone stairs that spans between realms, and at the end is a dam with stones missing in certain spots that only let through what is safe. Might you have the ability to do that?” the Air Spirit asked the Earth Spirit.

“I would not do it, whether or not I could,” he snapped.

“Well, what if the Water Spirit created a river that flows between us and them, with the walls and ceiling and holed dam made of ice?” the Air Spirit suggested.

“Those are good ideas,” the Water Spirit told the Air Spirit, “but, regretfully, I cannot do this, nor could the Earth Spirit do what you suggested. We cannot filter our magic using a holed dam that is also made of our magic.”

“What should we do then?” the Fire Spirit asked the Water Spirit. He could tell from her face and from the vibration of her energy that she had worked it all out.

“The solution will be a human,” the Water Spirit revealed, “and her physical form will serve as the enclosure, like a walled bridge, or a tunnel, or a vessel. This unique human will possess our magic, but only have access to as much of it as a human can safely wield, thus also serving as the sieve, or the holed dam, if you prefer to think of it that way. Through her humanity, our power will be shared with all of humanity, and she will be the fifth Spirit: the Humanity Spirit.”

The Fire Spirit morphed into his flame form and roared excitedly. The Air Spirit twirled merrily around the space.

“That is wonderful,” the Fire Spirit said, “how do we make her?”

“We cannot make her, or she will be of no more use than a stone staircase and a holed dam composed of the Earth Spirit’s stone, or a river and ice damn made of my water,” the Water Spirit answered, “the Humanity Spirit cannot be made of us; she must be other than us. She cannot be created solely by our power and she cannot simply exist all at once, the way we did. She must be a real human, a being who begins very small in order to grow over time, a being who is birthed by a human and raised among humans. I propose we select a human woman and place in her a seed of our magic which will be activated when she bears a child. As the child grows so will that seed, and she will be the Humanity Spirit, she will be the bridge.”

“How wonderful,” the Fire Spirit exclaimed.

“Will she know she is the Humanity Spirit?” the Air Spirit asked.

“We will create a book which explains everything about her identity and how to wield her power,” the Water Spirit replied, “and we will leave it for her human mother to find, with instructions to -”

“So, it is not enough that you wish to give them access to our power,” the Earth Spirit interrupted, “but you wish to make it easy for them to access it? To hand it over as though it were some simple human trinket? A single generation of energetic preparation? A book of easy to follow instructions?” he said with outrage, “Have you no respect for the gravity of the power we possess?”

“What do you suggest?” the Water Spirit replied with a cool calm.

“No book. Twenty generations. Make them earn it. Prove they are worthy. Our power is sacred. Magic is sacred.”

All three of the others agreed with the last bit, giving solemn nods.

“How about ten generations,” the Air Spirit tried, “and a single page of instructions?”

They all looked to the Earth Spirit, who held his many stone faces guarded for an impossibly endless moment.

“Fifteen,” the Earth Spirit finally agreed, “but no instructions. Absolutely not. If this fifth Spirit is unable to figure it out, then humans will be proven unworthy of magic and we will take the seed of our magic away from her, leaving her to be an ordinary human, leaving them all to be ordinary.”

“That is not fair,” the Fire Spirit objected, “we have to give her at least a clue. Why do you wish to make it so difficult for them? Do you not love the humans like I do? Do you not wish to see them improve and grow as much as they can?”

“The Earth Spirit is simply in a poor mood,” the Air Spirit explained, “perhaps he can try to calm down and think on the large part of his essence that is very generous.” With a face that was both seen and unseen, the Air Spirit looked at the Earth Spirit and he glared back at her. But the Air Spirit held her gaze locked with his, causing all the air in the impossible space to still, the expression of her essence determined and bold, and eventually the Earth Spirit’s eyes softened. “And perhaps the Earth Spirit can think as well on the part of his essence that holds great affection for the humans,” the Air Spirit added gingerly. They all looked to the Earth Spirit, and after what may have, in fact, been ages and ages, each of his many stone faces gave the smallest of smiles.

“You are correct,” the Earth Spirit spoke, his voice still deep and echoing, but now revelatory of his kindness, “I do care for the humans. But I fear it may be beyond their capabilities to comprehend and utilize magic, no matter how much we weaken our power for them, no matter how the filter of the Humanity Spirit alters it. I - I love them, but we must be realistic about their limitations. They have small minds and small bodies which they are bound to. They are simply not like us,” he said with regret and concern.

“We can adjust them to the magic gradually,” the Water Spirit suggested, “and if they seem unable to handle it at any point along the way, we can meet to discuss taking appropriate action.”

“And what action do you feel would be appropriate?” the Earth Spirit asked.

“We would consider options based on the specifics of what had gone wrong,” the Water Spirit replied, “we could discuss taking the magic from them temporarily or permanently, taking it from certain humans or from all of them, taking back only specific varieties of magic, weakening it all but not actually taking any away, or whatever other ideas we might come up with, based on the situation. Then, together, we would decide how to proceed.”

The Earth Spirit made a low “hmm” sound as he appeared to consider this.

“A fair test does make sense,” the Earth Spirit stated thoughtfully after a time, “it is good to give them a chance.” The Air Spirit blew merrily around the Earth Spirit’s stone faces and the Earth Spirit smiled again for an instant. “But,” the Earth Spirit added sternly, “if they misuse the power in any way, I _will_ be calling a meeting.”

“That is fair,” the Water Spirit agreed.

“How should we go about this?” the Fire Spirit asked, eager to hear the Water Spirit’s idea.

“Well,” the Water Spirit began, “we can use the seed we were going to place in the human fifteen generations earlier than that of the Humanity Spirit. Rather than the seed simply holding inactive magic, we can imbue it with a miniscule amount of magic that will pass down along the bloodline. As the generations grow nearer and nearer to the generation of the Humanity Spirit, the amount of magic humanity can access will grow larger and larger - but it will not reach its full potential until the Humanity Spirit is born and comes to fully understand her identity.”

The Fire Spirit danced in his flame form, consumed by joyful anticipation. The Air Spirit danced gladly with him, fanning his flames.

“And if the humans disappoint us along the way, we will meet to discuss taking action,” the Earth Spirit confirmed.

“Yes, yes,” the Air Spirit assured him.

“What about the instructions?” the Fire Spirit asked.

“No instructions,” the Earth Spirit declared at once, “that is like giving them the answers to the test.”

“What about just a vague clue? One to teach the Humanity Spirit of her true identity,” the Fire Spirit suggested, holding himself again in his flameless lizard form to think as clearly as he could, “a clue that will live in the subconscious of each member of the bloodline. A clue that only the Humanity Spirit herself can come to fully understand, but one which will become gradually clearer with each generation.”

“What sort of clue?” the Water Spirit asked, seeming impressed with the Fire Spirit’s idea, which made the Fire Spirit swell and sway with sudden flames of pride.

“A melody,” the Fire Spirit replied, “we can compose it together, tie it to the seed of our magic, and implant it in the bloodline fifteen generations before that of the Humanity Spirit. The melody will live in the subconscious minds of those generations before her, and it will hold the truths of magic in it. The humans of the chosen bloodline will not know why, but they will know that the melody is important, and that it has something to teach them - but only the Humanity Spirit herself will hear the melody on a conscious level, and only when she learns her true identity will humanity be given as much magic as it can safely wield.”

The other three Spirits considered this for many silent moments.

“Humans do respond well to music,” the Water Spirit agreed, “and -” her voice suddenly grew distant, like it was coming from the bottom of the ocean, “I foresee the melody being used as a way for the family members to find each other when they are apart… I foresee the subconscious melody inspiring members of the bloodline to intuit art, symbology, story…and from one story there is a lullaby, and from one lullaby there is a map to, a map to…” 

The Water Spirit’s horse form had melted and her waves rushed wildly, and the Fire Spirit knew she was seeing a vision of the future, as only she could - but the Water Spirit’s visions were limited and their occurrence, or lack of occurrence, was beyond her control, and for this reason she hid them from the Air Spirit and the Earth Spirit. The Water Spirit was ashamed to appear weak, refused to show herself out of control of anything, but the Fire Spirit knew all of her secrets, just as she knew his.

Without finishing her sentence, the Water Spirit suddenly reformed as a watery horse, and the Fire Spirit knew her vision had ended.

“That is how I would guess it to be, in any case,” the Water Spirit explained, her tone cool, revealing nothing, though the Air Spirit gave her a questioning expression.

“I object to the idea of simply putting all the answers in the melody,” the Earth Spirit interjected, “it is one thing for the preceding generations to have distant knowledge buried in their subconscious, but it is too easy if the Humanity Spirit immediately finds out the full truth of her identity upon hearing the melody in her conscious mind. I refuse to allow this. She must be given the opportunity to prove herself.”

“Then how can we use the melody to teach the Humanity Spirit of her true identity?” the Air Spirit asked.

The Fire Spirit struggled to think quickly, wanting to impress the Water Spirit though he was confident she would think of something if he couldn’t.

“Perhaps,” the Fire Spirit excitedly suggested, “we can create a place that holds the information which the Humanity Spirit needs, and the melody will call her there. It will be more difficult for her that way,” he glanced at the Earth Spirit, who looked to be considering this, “the Humanity Spirit will have to locate the place of knowledge, and also find a way to get there, so she will be able to prove herself that way.”

“Yes,” the Water Spirit said thoughtfully, “a place,” and the Fire Spirit understood the end of the Water Spirit’s unfinished vision: one of the members of the bloodline would intuit a map to the place of knowledge the Spirits of Nature would soon create. The melody in that human’s subconscious, and the echoes of knowledge tied to the melody, would lead that human to create what might be the very thing the Humanity Spirit would end up needing. The Fire Spirit was very pleased with himself.

“I love that idea,” the Air Spirit agreed.

They all looked to the Earth Spirit to see if he objected. He sighed.

“I suppose it would be alright,” the Earth Spirit conceded, “but only if she would not hear the melody on a conscious level until one of us calls a meeting and we all agree that she is ready - ready to be tested, to see if she can get to this place of knowledge we will create. We must give her trials before she can get there, because she must prove on behalf of all of humanity that humans are truly worthy of magic, that they are capable of understanding and using it correctly.”

The Air Spirit made a pleased sound and blew gently over the Earth Spirit’s stone forms, and he gave her brief, soft smiles with his many mouths. The Fire Spirit looked to the Water Spirit, his lizard face grinning. The Water Spirit gave him a fond smile - her face that of a graceful horse and her body a mass of rushing rivers and toppling waves - and the Fire Spirit melted at once into pure flame.

The four Spirits of Nature composed the melody together, but the Water Spirit took the lead because they all knew she was the most lyrical, and because she was good at giving directions, even to the Earth Spirit. It was a short melody, but in each note they imbued a spark of their magic. In each note they programed an energetic map to the place they would create, to the place of knowledge. In each note they infused a raw, wordless account of the truths of magic. The Water Spirit took the lead in creating the place of knowledge as well, and it was her magic that they used as the base for the seed of their combined powers. They bound the melody to the seed. They chose the human who was most respectful of Nature and sewed the seed and the melody into her blood.

Fifteen generations later, a heroic child called out her family’s melody in a time of crisis. 

One generation after that the Humanity Spirit was born, and when the four Spirits of Nature agreed she was ready, the Water Spirit used her mother’s call of the past to bring Elsa to Ahtohallan, the place of knowledge which the Water Spirit had created long ago. And as the Humanity Spirit made it through her trials, the Fire Spirit watched and smiled, because he had always known she could do it. He had no psychic abilities; he simply believed in the Humanity Spirit with all of his might.


End file.
